Snapshots: The Lives of Helen and Bob Parr
by gabthebomb
Summary: A series of vignettes following our favorite Incredibles couple through love, loss, and life.
1. First Look

"_We have a mugger situation…bzzt…shipping warehouse downtown…bzzzt…reinforcement needed…"_

Mr. Incredible's police scanner is being annoying. It's cutting in and out, and he is quickly growing frustrated with the fading in and out. Once he makes out the address, he races downtown to see what he can do to help.

He arrives on the scene to find handcuffed men being herded into police cars. A few reporters are lingering about, trying to get a glimpse of the person who helped nab the criminals.

"This is Karen Samuels reporting for Channel 5, and I'm here with Municiberg's latest superhero. She has just incapacitated no less than five wanted felons who were in the news just last week. This lady seems to be able to stretch herself into any form, and her abilities have effectively taken down the criminals in question tonight. Miss, do you have any comments about what just occurred here?"

"I'm just happy that I was able to get here quickly enough. This city depends on the authorities to keep it safe, but every now and then, extra assistance is required. I'm just here to help." She smirks, and her glittering red mask moves with her expressive face.

"Well, you are definitely appreciated after your actions tonight. Thanks so much, um…?"

"Elastigirl."

"Well, there you have it, folks! Solid proof that the Supers of our society continue to make the world a better place. Thanks, Elastigirl!"

Mr. Incredible gets out of his car, and is immediately approached by a familiar officer.

"Hey, Incredible. You can see that we're all finished up here. What a chick, eh?"

"Yeah. Please excuse me, officer."

He makes his way over to the unfamiliar heroine, who is pulling her red boots up.

"Clean job," he says. "I would have gotten here quicker, but I was somewhat tied up."

"Yes, that does happen," she replied, though one eyebrow was raised. "I suppose that tonight your abilities were somewhat unneeded…Mr. Incredible."

_She knows my name? But…oh. Right. I suppose I am pretty famous, _he thinks. "Uh…Yup. Well, good job tonight…Elastigirl. I suppose I'll see you around…?"

Elastigirl nods swiftly, and her dark red hair bobs up and down with the motion. Without warning she turns around, bends into a spring, and leaps onto the warehouse roof. He watches as she slings herself over the rooftops, heading in the direction of the dying sun.


	2. Date

Mr. Incredible has just handcuffed some burglars to the piping of a roof. A now familiar figure waits on the sidelines, watching him work. She's not just for decoration though—she knocked out two of the jewelry crooks right before Mr. Incredible arrived on the scene. Always one step ahead of him, it seemed.

"I think we're done here, Elastigirl."

"We? You're forgetting who took out most of them, Incredible."

"Of course. My apologies… how can I make it up to you?"

"How about dinner?"

His clever response halts in his throat. He was not expecting this request; he had been aching to ask her out for a while, but she would never say yes. Or so he had previously thought.

He clears his throat, and attempts to keep up his end of the playful banter.

"Tempting. I'll have to check my schedule, though. A man like me has priorities, you see."

In response, she quickly stretches her arm across the five foot gap between them, clipping him in the shoulder. He pretends to wince, but the punch feels feather-light through his steel-strength super suit.

"Clear it. I won't wait long, Incredible." She gives him a look, and it clearly states _make me your priority or be sorry._ He's happy to oblige.

They make plans to meet at an Italian restaurant uptown later that night. She exits in her usual fashion, leaping off of the roof in a graceful arch, and Mr. Incredible can't take his eyes off of her receding backside.


	3. First Kiss

They're standing close together in an alley way, discussing the news. Congress is debating a subject that touches their lives in every way—recent events have propelled Supers into a bad light, and a new bill is being debated that could force Supers into hiding.

"What if they approve the bill? That means no saving anyone. Our entire lives are intertwined with our jobs, Elastigirl. What will this mean if we can't do what we're meant to?"

"Relax. There's no way that it will pass. After all, making Supers go away doesn't eradicate the villains. Pushing Supers out of the picture will make the crime rate skyrocket." The spring breeze whips her shoulder-length hair in his face, and a few strands escape from her headband.

"I know that, and you know that. But do the stuffed shirts know that?" His voice drops, hopelessness seeking into his tone.

"We've just gotta stay strong. Whatever happens, we can still do our part. We'll just have to be…discreet." Her southern accent strengthens with these last words, her internal worries surfacing slightly.

Elastigirl puts her gloved hands on his broad shoulders, stretching a bit to reach around his large frame. He looks into her brown eyes, and sees something in them that reassures him. He hopes, beyond anything, that they will not be forced to go into hiding. He is suddenly overcome with a fondness for the woman in front of him. She would stay with him, right? Even if he couldn't be super anymore? He doesn't know if he could take it if she left. He does know one thing—Elastigirl has become a part of him, and he doesn't want to lose her.

He decides to express his feelings in the first form that comes to mind.

At first she gasps in bewilderment; after all, he did not warn her. She soon participates with enthusiasm, though. Her lips are soft, and they yield to his. His strong jaw moves with her mouth, and his large hands find her small waist, gripping it firmly. She drapes her long arms around his neck, sighing in contentment. The tension in the air is diffused, making room for the new emotion.

"It's about time," she says, one eyebrow raised in her signature look. How has he never noticed how beautiful she is? He moves to kiss her again. After all, it's what they both want.


	4. Revelations

He meets her in the park late one Friday night.

Elastigirl is lounging on a bench, the summer breeze gently tousling her auburn hair. She's wearing a short sundress that shows off her shoulders, toned from hours of Super training. Her stunning face is covered by the ever-present glittering red mask.

She's the most beautiful thing that he's ever seen.

Elastigirl smiles up at him, and he lets out the breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding in. "On three?" she asks. "Alright," is his slightly nervous reply.

_1...2...3_, and the masks come off.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Bob Parr."

She grins. "Helen Truax."

It's the sweetest combination of letters that he's ever heard. He rolls the name around in his head, savoring the importance of the moment. He knows that it is dangerous for Supers to take a relationship this far, especially with recent events, but he trusts her. Hell, he'd do anything for her.

"I...I love you, Helen." Her face shifts into a look of surprise, her brown eyes widening. Then it softens, changing into the same expression that's on Bob's face.

"Would you believe that I love you too, Bob?"


	5. Frustrations

Elastigirl hates wearing civilian clothes.

Wearing civvies means confinement. It means no stretching, no freedom, and no hero work. One unconscious stretch of the neck, and the shoulder of that new blouse is ripped. Such a bother. She might as well get used to it, though –the Anti-Super bill looks like it's going to pass.

Helen Truax rather likes un-stretchy clothing.

Normal clothes mean meeting Bob Parr for coffee, it means talking the time to walk slowly rather than leaping over rooftops. It means taking a break.

Currently, the clothes enable her to push a cart down the grocery aisle, looking for coffee to stock her small apartment. She touches the sides of her face, rubbing her unmasked eyes. Helen hasn't been sleeping so well… perhaps she should try turning the news off before she goes to bed. She feels lonely all of a sudden, and decides to beep Bob. Collapsing in his arms will take away some of the stress that she feels in her flexible bones, and she'll feel at home.


	6. Engagement

Helen is carefully preparing for her date tonight. It's a special night – their one-year anniversary, in fact. She removes the hair curlers and flattens her bangs down, frowning in the mirror. _Why can't my hair cooperate for once? _ It finally lies flat, and she smiles; satisfied. She picks up her purse and heads to the Italian restaurant that she and Bob are now regulars at. Tonight, nothing can go wrong. She has a tingly feeling that something special will occur, she just hopes that it won't be an emergency duty call.

Bob can't take his eyes off the woman sitting across from him. She's wearing a red, low-cut blouse, with softly curled auburn hair and bangs falling into her eyes. _You'd think the shirt would clash with her hair...but it doesn't. She looks...wonderful,_ Bob thinks, trying for a better adjective but coming up blank. She raises her eyebrows at him, clearly expecting an answer to whatever she just asked him.

"Sorry…what?"

"I said, do you want to look at the wine list?" She shakes her head at him, clearly aware of his gawking.

"Oh, right. Yeah, let's order."

The waiter takes their orders, and then finally leaves them in peace. "You left some things in my car the other day," Bob says. He slides a black gift bag across the table, and Helen gives him a puzzled look.

"Why would you go through this trouble with a bag for just lipsti…?"

Her sentence cuts off with a gasp. She has just discovered something else in the bag.

Helen's lipstick is indeed there, but there is also a black velvet box nestled against the tissue paper. She pulls it out, her eyes widening. Bob takes her hands across the table, clearing his throat. Though he is nervous, one glance into her eyes gives him strength enough.

"Helen, would you please do me the honor of becoming my wife? I have not much else to say, except that...we belong together," he states simply. Her brown eyes are soft in the candlelight, and she blinks once to hold the tears back.

Finally. She has waited so long, she has been so lonely. She has needed someone who can fulfill her every need, be it physical, mental, or emotional. Someone who can let her be herself, who can complete her. Someone who can keep up with her, but take care of her when she can't be strong. Someone as special and super as she is. That someone is Robert Parr, questionably the strongest man on earth in numerous aspects.

Steadying herself, she replies, "Yes…

…It's about time, Bob." There's that smirk.

Classic Helen.

He slides the ring on her finger, and the beauty of her face lights up the dimly lit room. It is truly an incredible moment for all parties involved.


	7. End of an Era

**Author's Note: I switched the chronology a little bit here. According to the movie, Helen and Bob are technically married before the Superhero Relocation Act is passed, but I needed to change it around for this chapter. Thanks for reading!**

Helen is watching television. Her eyebrows are furrowed with deep concern, and her eyes are quickly filling with tears from what she is seeing. The late night news brings awful tidings, and she slumps deeper into her shabby sofa, pooling into a pile of limbs.

"…_Another suit has been filed by victims of the train accident. Incredible's court losses are costing the government millions…_ "

It had been debated over for months. But was it the real deal this time?

"…_Tremendous public pressure and the crushing financial burden of an ever mounting series of lawsuits are provoking the government to initiate a superhero relocation program..."_

Was it truly over? Everything… that she had worked so hard for; that _they _had fought for. How could hundreds of saved people not count against the word of a few ungrateful instigators?

"…_It is time for their secret identity to become their only identity. Time for them to join us, or go away…"_

How could the public disregard so quickly all that the Supers had done for them?

"_...The supers will be granted amnesty from responsibility for past actions, in exchange for the promise to never again resume hero work…"_

Helen can feel her heart shrinking, shrinking. Everything that she is and believes in revolves around hero work. Without saving others, there is nothing.

Except…

_Bob must be seeing this. I can only imagine how he's reacting._

Helen pulls herself up, and reaches across the room for the phone. She contemplates for a moment, considering her future. Currently, there are two stable elements in her life: Bob, and hero work. At least, there was. The latter is slipping away from her, but Helen hopes that Robert Parr will always be there for her. She looks at her engagement ring, deciding that she _knows _he will be. She dials his number without further hesitation, preparing for the conversation.

"What?"

Uh oh. Not even a hello? _It's bad, _she thinks.

"Bob, it's me. I guess you've been watching the news?"

"Have I. Have I been watching…? Yes. Yeah, I have, and Helen, I'm honestly freaking the hell out."

Helen could only hope that he hadn't broken anything important. She knew that he needed an outlet for his emotions; hopefully, she could help.

"Bob, Bob, honey, calm down. It's gonna be all right. Do you want to come over?"

There's silence for a moment, and he lets out a sigh.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon."

Helen hangs up the phone with one hand, turning off the television with the other. She leans against the tiny kitchen's wall, thinking about what she can do to make it better. Things wouldn't be the same anymore, that's for sure. The ongoing events might never seem any less horrible, but at least she and Bob will face it together. They are somewhat calmed by each other's presence, and Helen knows that as a whole, they will take on anything that challenges them.

With the help of each other, they will survive.


End file.
